Texans’ Brian Cushing is the Fanblog “Beast of the Year”

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Yep. I just made up my own award. I can do that, you know. When considering what other nifty awards I wanted to hand out, I knew there needed to be a special award for Brian Cushing. Not that I’m biased or anything, but Cush was exactly what the award denotes….a Beast.

I think I’ll give these awards every season. I have a few more in mind that aren’t the mainstream awards you see being handed out like the MVP and such. I’ll gladly take suggestions if anyone has any other award ideas.

If I was handing out this award in 2010, it would go to Arian Foster hands down. But this year, it has to go to Brian Cushing. After a forgettable season in 2010, coming off suspension and playing out of position in a bad system, Cush returned to his rookie form this season and quite obviously excelled in Wade Phillips’ brand of defense.

So impressed were Cushing’s teammates, they unanimously named him the defensive Captain mid-way through the season. He led the team in tackles by a whopping 37 with 76 solo tackles and 38 assists, 18 more assists than DeMeco Ryans. He recorded 4 sacks and recovered 2 fumbles and had 2 INT’s. Not bad when considering Cushing only made a little under $700k in base salary in 2011, less than Kevin Walter, DeMeco Ryans, and three offensive linemen. He’s due to be the 37th highest paid linebacker in the NFL in 2012, and is signed through 2013. His biggest contribution though, in my opinion, doesn’t show up in the stats.

Cushing plays hard every single play. His intensity is fun to watch and contagious. And he possesses a nasty streak that the Texans haven’t had much of prior to 2009 and Houston hasn’t seen since the likes of Robert Brazil or Greg Bingham. And by nasty, I don’t mean dirty. Cushing plays a physical brand of football that makes offensive players wince and cuss. Never was that more evident than in the November 10 game against Cleveland when he headbutted Browns offensive guard Shawn Lauvao after Lauvao pushed him in the back after the whistle. While even Cushing later admitted it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, you have to love the attitude he brings to the defense.